


Sweet Dreams

by MysticElf21



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, One Shot, Platonic Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticElf21/pseuds/MysticElf21
Summary: Yugi's been having nightmares ever since the Battle City tournament.  He doesn't want to tell anyone else about it, but he should know by now that his friends won't ever let him face his problems alone.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Sweet Dreams

The bomb ticked above them, the red clock counting down, and Yugi couldn’t stop watching those numbers. Jonouchi stood in front of him-no, not Jonouchi. Malik, using Jonouchi’s body as nothing more than a puppet. Bags hung around Jonouchi’s eyes, and they were hollow, empty, in a way he had never seen them before. Not when Jonouchi was pretending to work for Hirutani. Not when Bandit Keith had tried to punch Yugi the night before the Duelist Kingdom finals and Jonouchi had stopped him. Not even during Death-T, when they had thought Honda had died.

In all of those times, he was still Jonouchi. But now, Jonouchi had walked out of the body and someone else had taken his place, someone cruel and sadistic. It was almost like when Yami Bakura possessed Ryou, but worse. Because Yugi knew that Jonouchi was awake in there, not sleeping like Ryou sometimes was. Jonouchi was awake and watching as he moved to kill his best friend.

Yugi swallowed. “I play the spell card Exchange!” He said, hoping his voice didn’t waver. “We both look at each other’s hands, and we pick one card.”

Jonouchi laughed, his laugh deep and sadistic, and Yugi’s gut twisted. “All right, _Yugi_ ,” Jonouchi said, hurling the name like it was an insult, “show me your pathetic cards.”

He walked around the dueling arena, around the watery hole where the bomb and the anchor waited to kill. His chain clanged along the wood as he approached Yugi. Slowly, Yugi looked away, refusing to meet this Jonouchi’s eyes and slowly lifting up his cards.

“Oh, now that’s a useful-” Jonouchi began to say, but his mouth stopped working as Yugi’s grip on his cards shifted, revealing one that had been covered up by another.

The Red-Eyes Black Dragon stared up at Jonouchi, its black wings spread out and its red eyes glowing against the dark background of the card’s art. Carefully, Yugi’s eyes slid over to Jonouchi, watching as his fingers trembled. His eyes had locked onto the dragon card, and he reached out for it, slowly, every movement seemingly taking a herculean effort.

His arm shook as Jonouchi lunged for a different card, before again coming to a halt. “Yugi,” Jonouchi said, and yet this time he felt certain it was Malik speaking, not Jonouchi at all. “Do you really think a single card, no matter how important or rare, can break the hold of a Millennium Item?”

“No…” Yugi whispered.

Jonouchi trembled, every inch of muscles straining. “Your friend is under my control, completely and entirely. And nothing you do can change that.” Jonouchi smirked, his lips curling up in a sadistic smile that bared too many teeth. His arm swept out and his fingers closed on the Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

“No! Jonouchi can’t just be gone like that! I refuse to believe it!” Yugi yelled. “He won’t use that card against me! He never would!”

“Oh?” Malik said through Jonouchi. “Let’s test that.” Jonouchi-no, Malik sauntered back over to his side of the duel, lifting up his Duel Disk. “End your turn, Yugi, so I can end you.”

Yugi looked down at the water. “I set one monster in defense position and end my turn.”

“Good, little Yugi. Now I tribute Panther Warrior and Little Winguard to summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon!” The two monsters exploded into glowing dust as the black dragon emerged, roaring as if in pain. Its wings flared, the holograms kicking up winds to mimic the effects. The breeze whipped through Yugi’s hair, and he gaped in disbelief at the dragon, whose scales glimmered in the light and who looked so impossibly real.

“Heh. Any last words, Yugi?”

“Jonouchi?” Yugi stared at him, searching for any sign of his best friend in those hollowed out eyes. “Jonouchi, please, I believe in you-”

Malik sighed. “Enough of your empty whining! It’s time for my final victory over you, Pharaoh! Inferno Fireblast!”

The dragon reared up on its hindlegs and roared, and to Yugi it sounded plaintive, mournful. Flames grew in its jaws before it lowered its head again, aiming at Yugi.

“Goodbye, Jonouchi, Other Me. And...I’m sorry….I’m sorry, I thought I could do this, other me…I wasn’t good enough…”

Red light filled Yugi’s vision.

~~~~~

“Jonouchi!” Yugi sat bolt upright in his bed, looking around his darkened bedroom. The shadowy figure of the Pharaoh materialized beside his bed, his eyebrows drawn tight together with worry.

“Partner?” He asked, ‘sitting’ next to him on the bed. “Whatever it was, it was just a nightmare. It wasn’t real.” He reached out to touch him, his ghostly hand going right through Yugi’s shoulder. Yugi couldn’t mistake the flash of pain in his eyes at being unable to comfort his partner, and Yugi scooted closer to him.

Memories of that duel trickled back into Yugi’s mind, sleep making his brain slow. “That’s right. We won, didn’t we? And...Jonouchi...he’s fine, isn’t he?” He twisted the blankets clutched in his grip. Those hollow eyes were still staring at him from the dark corners of his bedroom, and he saw them even when he closed his eyes. 

The Pharaoh looked at him, trying to will comfort through his very presence. “Yes, Jonouchi’s alive. We all survived, aibou, everything is fine.”

“I need to call him.” Yugi said, stumbling out of his bed and tripping as his blankets tangled his ankles. “I need to hear him, I need to _know_ he’s fine.”

The pharaoh hesitated. “If that’s what you need, Yugi.” Yugi opened his bedroom door, creeping down the steps as he glanced at his mother’s bedroom. He wouldn’t know how to even begin to explain all that’s transpired to her. How could he tell her about Battle City, Duelist Kingdom, Death-T, or all of the other life-threatening games he had gotten involved in? The fire at the Black Crown had nearly caused her to have a heart attack, let alone if she found out about the Pharaoh or anything else.

Yugi slipped over to the phone, quietly picking it up to dial Jonouchi. For a moment, all he heard was the dial-tone in his ear, and worry and disappointment curled in a tight ball in his chest. He took a deep breath, letting it out. Of course Jonouchi wouldn’t have picked up, not at this time of night. Of course he was sleeping. Yugi shouldn’t have even called-

When he heard the phone be picked up and the dial-tone suddenly cut off, Yugi almost couldn’t believe it. “Jonouchi?” He whispered. 

“Yugi?” Jonouchi asked, his voice drowsy with sleep. “What is it? Don’t tell me the world is ending again.”

“No, no, not at all.” Yugi said, waving his hands around in the air even if Jonouchi couldn’t see him. “I just had a nightmare about...about Battle City. I wanted to know you were all right.”

“Yugi?” Jonouchi said, and Yugi could practically see him rubbing his eyes. “Do you-”

“I’ll be fine now.” Yugi said quickly before Jonouchi could worry too much about him. “It’s no big deal, I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I can get back to sleep.”

“All right. If you’re sure about that.” Jonouchi trailed off as Yugi hung up. The Pharaoh stared at Yugi, concern written all over his features.

“I’ll be fine,” Yugi said, giving the Pharaoh a wobbly smile. “It was just a nightmare. He climbed back up the stairs, the pharaoh following him. Yugi settled himself back into bed, setting the Millennium Puzzle down on his nightstand and lifting the blankets over his head. “I’m sure it won’t happen again.”

Yugi closed his eyes, turning on his side, but no matter how he slept or tried to fall into dreams, those hollow eyes followed him, staring at him from the back of his eyelids.

Yugi slid back out of his bed, biting his lip and snatching a Rubik’s Cube off his desk. Without even looking down at the puzzle, his fingers worked to solve it, colors slotting neatly into place. “I don’t understand.” He whispered. “We won, Jonouchi’s alive, Malik’s not even evil anymore, so why am I still worrying about this? Why can’t I stop having this nightmare?” The pharaoh sat next to him, his silence enough of an answer as Yugi let out a choked sob.

A knock came from downstairs as Yugi clicked the final puzzle piece into place, and he paused, his eyebrows knitting together. “That’s strange. Why would someone be knocking at this hour?”

As was his habit by now, he put the Millennium Puzzle’s chain over his head and darted downstairs, a quick glance towards his mother’s bedroom telling him that she was still asleep. He opened the door a crack and his eyes widened. “What are you guys doing here?”

Anzu, Honda, and Jonouchi stood at his step, still in their pajamas and with blankets and pillows under their arms. Honda gave him a tired smile. “Jonouchi called us.”

“Would it help,” Anzu yawned mid-sentence, “if we stay here with you for the night?”

Yugi stared at the floor. “I don’t want you to-”

“Yugi,” Jonouchi said, “we’re friends, aren’t we?” He gave Yugi a smile, a real, warm smile so unlike the twisted smirks in his dreams. Yugi’s heart lifted just seeing it, and the shadows seemed fainter. Yami hovered behind him, smiling at the sight of their friends.

Yugi stepped aside and let them file in. “Stay quiet,” he whispered, closing the door behind them. “Everyone else is asleep.”

They slipped up the steps, their socks squeaking against the stairs as they filed into Yugi’s bedroom. Anzu knelt down, laying her blankets down on the floor before Honda positioned pillows near the head of their makeshift bed.

“C’mon, Yugi.” Jonouchi said, tugging him down to the floor. It was all he could do to take the Puzzle off before it banged into one of them in their sleep. He set the Puzzle aside, just above the pillows. Yami settled down beside them, and although he couldn’t touch either Yugi or their friends, he laid down beside them as if he too could share in the warmth. “Go to sleep.”

“Yeah.” Anzu said drowsily, and Yugi blushed heavily as he realized Anzu had already laid down next to the two of them and that they were sharing a bed. His brain was close to short-circuiting at the idea. “You’ll need it for the math test tomorrow.”

Jonouchi went pale, his grip on Yugi loosening. “Say what-”

“Shhhh!” Honda shushed Jonouchi before pulling on the blanket, getting under the covers. 

“There’s one tomorrow.” Anzu said, and with only a hint of laughter in her voice, “so you haven’t studied for it then?”

“No.” Jonouchi said, burying his face in the pillow. Behind Jonouchi, Yami hid his snickers. Yugi laughed softly, reaching up and patting him on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I forgot too. We can fail together.”

“Yugi,” Anzu said, sounding scandalized.

“Sorry, Anzu.” Next to him, Jonouchi’s breathing relaxed as he fell into sleep. His warmth sank under Yugi’s skin, and all around him he could hear the quiet breathing of his friends.

Despite everything, they were safe, alive, and together as friends still. Yugi smiled as he slowly fell asleep, his eyes fluttering closed.

And this time, he had nothing but sweet dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, that ending was cheesy and teeth-rottingly sweet, but *shrugs* I like it anyways, it's cute.  
> Concrit and comments welcome!


End file.
